In ancient Greece, a "demagogue" was a leader and spokesman for the common people. Centuries later, today the meaning of the word demagogue has changed to describe unprincipled individuals who publicly use specious or deceitful arguments to appeal to the prejudices and passions of their audiences. In other words, a "rabble-rouser."

On the issues of offshore trade, finance, jobs and taxes, Senator John Kerry is becoming eligible for the 'anti-offshore demagogue' of the year award.

Recently, Senator Kerry pledged that, if elected as president, he would eliminate in a "nanosecond" a tax break US companies get for foreign business operations, charging that the "stupid loophole" has in recent years forced thousands of American manufacturing jobs overseas. The senator offered no proof of this claim, because there isn't any.

If the senator is concerned about this recently discovered 'loophole', which has been in US tax law for decades, why during his 21 years in the Senate, didn't he introduce a bill to repeal it? The likely reason is that, until he decided this was a hot campaign issue, he could have cared less about this so-called loophole.

American jobs migrating overseas are not driven abroad because of the relatively small tax break that Kerry is attacking. Companies relocate jobs offshore to take advantage of lower wages and production costs. The tax break allows companies to defer payment of US taxes on income earned overseas and is intended to equalize higher US business taxes and lower foreign taxes on offshore
operations, making US firms more competitive and not encouraging them
to move jobs overseas. A US-based firm can "expect to pay an average tax rate of 31%. When this company invests abroad, it faces
an average tax rate of 21%," that statement from Kerry himself. (It is assumed that he can figure the tax savings arithmetic.)

The senator’s solution is to eliminate the tax deferral for foreign earned income, a harebrained idea that, as former U.S. congressman. Jack Kemp says, "would create incentives for companies to take not just the jobs overseas, but to move the entire operation overseas as well."

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